A team of South African scientists has discovered that certain people’s blood is capable of producing antibodies that can kill nine of the 10 known strains of HIV.

Although scientists have known for a while now that there are people who are infected with HIV that can produce potent antibodies, the way this happened has always eluded them. Until now.

A study, based on the blood samples of two HIV-infected women, taken over several years at regular intervals, has allowed scientists to closely monitor and study how the virus has changed over time, as well as how the women’s antibodies have adapted.

The study yielded amazing results and revealed that a sugar molecule, glycan, “prompted the immune systems of these women to make antibodies that killed 88% of HIV strains.”

We’re hoping we can use this information to develop a vaccine that prompts the body’s immune system to make broadly neutralising antibodies.” said Penny Moore, lead author of a paper describing the discovery, published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Although the broadly acting antibodies cannot cure HIV, they do prevent the virus from infecting healthy cells. A vaccine that targets just this glycan would however only be partially effective, and a more tailored vaccine would be needed that could take aim at mulitple weak points in the virus.

The study was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, the NIH, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and was a joint effort by a consortium from the Centre for Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa), the NICD, the universities of Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, and the US universities of North Carolina and Harvard.

Prof Salim Abdool Karim, president of the Medical Research Council and co-director of Caprisa, made it clear that there was still some way to go with verifying the research.